[Publib] Resoich

[Backwage at aol.com]

I'd like to tell you that I'm doing some research right now, but the fact  
is, I'm always doing research.  Because I'm a researcher.  Some of you  might 
know what that means--it's like being a librarian, only you have to get  the 
actual answer.  [Insert laugh here]  Once I tried telling my boss,  "Look over in 
aisle five," and he told me to research the term  "unemployment."  [laugh 
again, if you've got a spare]
 
I was a researcher before I went to library school.  Library school  taught 
me a million new sources of information--priceless stuff for  research.  It 
also taught me how weak researchers could be in the area  of data collection and, 
most importantly, in discriminating among many  sources.
 
I didn't know researchers often leaned heavily on bad sources or  just did 
lousy work until I saw what a good librarian could provide--and  that every 
researcher should be a good librarian.  On the other hand, I  didn't know what a 
weak librarian was until I had a few reference courses and  saw that, like any 
other trade, half the practitioners were below average.  
 
My problem is that I am living in a statistical anomaly:   somehow I get all 
the bad ones.  My requests for library assistance are  very often deflating.  
I think the reason for this is that I want very  badly for colleagues to be 
sharp--to make me proud of them and our work.   Too often this just aint the 
case, friends.  Let me tell you how it's  boiling down in River City.
 
I'm working on a project which requires me to make contact with librarians  
in all fifty states plus some other localities; like most of my work it 
involves  laws that are similar everywhere but which differ in their particulars.  I  
have to formulate strategies for dealing with the differences.  Think of  
something like benefits for the homeless or unemployment insurance--a thing of  
many variables with some significant similarities.  The librarians are in  
state agencies.  As usual, I am using them as they are supposed to be  employed:  
as initial sources and links to needed documents, statutes,  statistics--all 
that sort of thing.  
 
My requests take the form of emails (when possible), and letters.  I  have 
not yet reached the phone call stage.  Let's make up a question  similar to what 
I'm asking:
 
"Dear Librarian, I am doing research on the application of federal  blowtorch 
standards through the blowtorch licensing agency of your state.   Of course, 
the federal government and your state have similar standards, and in  fact 
your state enforces federal rules.  I am seeking statistics on the  following:
 
1.  Blowtorch injuries for the past five years, as required by  California 
statute.
2.  Number of investigations for these injuries, and also for  preventive 
inspections by the appropriate agency.
3.  Final penalty assessments for injuries and failed  inspections.
 
Please note that I have not been able to discover any other source for this  
information; I was told by the enforcement agency that the State Library was 
the  sole repository of the information and records I require.  Please consider 
 this a request under your state's version of FOIA, and inform me if other 
steps  need to be taken to receive the information described.  Many thanks, et  
cetera."
 
Okay, now you've read the prelims.  In our next posting we will show  you how 
to get gray hair in a real quick hurry.
 
M. McGrorty
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